Upbeat. Positive. Star Wars-Centric.

Main menu

Post navigation

Rebel Transmissions: Through Imperial Eyes

Yayzers it’s Rebel Transmission time! Well that didn’t sound stupid at all 😛 But needless to say I’m really excited about writing this one. Forget my lame opening line and let’s look deeper into Through Imperial Eyes!NOTE: Contains spoilers from Rebels episodes A Princess On Lothal, An Inside Man, and Through Imperial Eyes.

The alarm goes off as another day begins for our double-Agent Kallus, except that the alarm isn’t from a clock, but from yet another Rebel problem. I have to applaud Kallus, really, because I’m never that alert in the morning. I mean, did he even have time for kaffe or breakfast or anything? This opening never fails to fascinate me as we catch a glimpse at just what the average everyday Imp goes through on the regular. Agent K literally just woke up like this! How does he do it?? I mean, you’d think those sideburns would take a little more work, but nope he’s just naturally fabulous! XD But clearly friends the most fascinating thing here is that he actually manages to sleep in his armor. Though I guess if I were secretly helping the mini-Alliance while working for the Empire I wouldn’t take my chestplate off either. Like, ever. So yes as you can imagine I’ve spent the last week making a lot of jokes and observations about Imperial morning routines, sadly I could not include them all here due to, well, forgetting most of ’em. But still, what fun 🙂
So guess who our little Rebel problem was? Just some random grouchy Lothalian bounty hunter who’s actually Ezra Bridger. Ezra just thought he’d swing by and rescue their fantastic Fulcrum from potentially-suspicious Imperials, like NBD just another ordinary day. Kallus is like “OMG DO YOU REALIZE WHAT A BAD IDEA THIS IS?!?” Ah you guys I just love it when Kallus freaks out. David Oyelowo’s voice acting is perfection. Also I love the familiarity of the setting in the interrogation room. You guys remember the pilot back when Ezra was smol and Kallus was a jerk and Ez sarcastically dubbed himself “Jabba”? Boy they’ve come a long way. Ezra honestly doesn’t still 100% trust him but he still came all this way to save ‘im, even if Agent K didn’t necessarily want to be saved. But no time for “interrogating”, Thrawn’s destroyer just showed up and you know he means business. Kallus is off to a meeting with the rebel prisoner in tow. This should go well, though it does definitely throw a wrench in the Rebs’ plans. It’s kind of all up to Chopper and AP now. Seeing Kanan and Rex in ‘trooper armor again was such a wonderful surprise though. Men In White, back in action!
I don’t blame Lieutenant Lyste for his nerves going into this meeting. I was kinda surprised he hadn’t been demoted right on down to sub-ensign since the Leia incident (if not just straight-up Force-choked by a certain someone). And now he’s attending a meeting with the Grand Admiral that’s a big enough deal it involves confiscating code cylinders. Also I’m glad to know that what those things are officially in-canon because until I read the OT Costumes book I always sort of thought they were ballpoint pens. We learn so much in this episode. Including the fact that Thrawn spends his spare time sparring with those giant sentry droids and he’s awesome at it. Just an ordinary everyday workout regimen! Like OK wow I’m both majorly impressed and majorly terrified. I don’t think there’s anyone who couldn’t be. While Kallus and Lyste wait for the Grand Admiral, they get a second to say “hello” to Colonel Yularen. You probably didn’t know this but I’m a pretty big Yularen fan. What would The Clone Wars have been without this uptight mustachioed gent of an admiral constantly questioning Anakin’s plans? 🙂 Turns out the no-longer-quite-as-uptight-but-just-as-fabulously-mustachioed-as-ever-colonel trained Kallus back in the day, and he seems quite proud of his former pupil. So again lots of nice surprises all around today. And then Grand Admiral Thrawn enters the room ready to talk business, business involving this “Fulcrum” character within their ranks. He’s come down to the wire on the last few possible Rebel base locations and they can’t have a turncoat running around causing trouble. Thrawn and Yularen warn their subords to keep an eye out, and that wraps up their meeting. I don’t know how in the galaxy Kallus managed to keep a straight face when the Colonel asked him his thoughts on the spy. Agent K’s cool as a cucumber. Or whatever the SW equivalent vegetable is. I mean seriously Kallus is so so good. He goes from there and quietly convinces Lyste that Pryce is the traitor, and then casually saunters over and lets Ez out of his cell. Pfff after Ezra’s hiding-on-the-ceiling-stunt it’s all I can do not to start calling him “Spider-Ez” XD They’re still gonna need those clearance codes if they want to get out of here, and Kallus wants to help Ezra get their base off the map, so to Thrawn’s office we go! How’ll they get in there you ask? Cosplay. Ezra is a pretty convincing Lieutenant Lyste to the average weak-minded stormtrooper. Even kinda got the accent down! Y’know one of the things I just love about this episode is watching the endless cleverness Agent K and Ezra possess. Kallus playin’ Lyste and the Imps and Ez in disguise… they’re just so good! They may not entirely trust each other, but both trust themselves and know what they’re fighting for. Smooooooth criminals bro. In a good way 🙂 Once inside Chopper quickly gets them codes and casually makes Abafar (forgive me for misspelling) disappear. If only AP-5 had mentioned Thrawn’s arrival a teense bit sooner… with the Grand Admiral now suspicious of Lyste, it’s a really bad time to be cosplaying him. Ez’s only hope right now is Sabine’s firebird-and-lothcat, which happens to be big enough to hide him for the moment. Well not his only hope, he’s also got the timely arrival of sentry droids who don’t listen to no override codes. Thank you, Kallus!
Everything ’bout this plan is beautiful it seems. Thrawn thinks Lyste is behind the droid attack, Lyste sees Pryce fighting ‘troopers (not realizing they’re our Men-In-White Rebels) and is certain she’s the Fulcrum, and when Lyste stuns Pryce, all eyes are on the perhaps-too-eager little graycoat. I couldn’t help but applaud the ingenuity of it all! With the heat off, Kallus chooses to continue his Imperial career. But… oh boy… Thrawn took one look at the art on the “bounty hunter”‘s helmet and saw the truth no one else saw. And he’s gonna make this work in the Empire’s favor… O_O
Welp that’s not good. I was rather nervous going into this episode, worried about whether something might happen to Agent Kallus. But then, there were so many great fun moments, I might’ve let my guard down by the end, and now I’m really really nervous. Force be with you, Agent K… Anyway, I just love this one to pieces and I’m glad I was able to talk ’bout it with ya today!